Relievers

If the Orioles don't improve their bullpen after last season's debacle, it won't matter if they sign a marquee starter, add speed to the outfield or make any of the other changes being contemplated.If they don't solidify a bullpen that blew 25 saves in 1999, they'll tread water at best during the off-season and probably struggle again next year. Yes, it's that important.Signing Arthur Rhodes would help, but owner Peter G. Angelos is balking at giving him a fourth year of guaranteed salary and the Orioles apparently have fallen behind the Indians, Dodgers and Mariners in the race for Rhodes.

Angels: Anaheim relievers have not allowed a run in 15 innings this season entering last night's game.Rangers: Ivan Rodriguez had four hits for the 14th time in his career on Tuesday. Mike Morgan, who pitched for Seattle from 1985-87, improved to 3-1 against the Mariners, beating them Tuesday for the first time since Aug. 4, 1979.Pub Date: 4/15/99

The Orioles' bullpen did something unusual the other night.It failed.Left-hander Arthur Rhodes gave up three runs in the eighth inning of a loss to the Anaheim Angels on Saturday night, and was as shocked as everybody else. Orioles relievers have grown so accustomed to success that anything less seems, well, a lot less than likely.Rhodes, for example, had not lost a game since May 25, even though he is one of the workhorses in middle relief. The bullpen has 22 victories, a combined 2.67 ERA and 46 saves in 52 opportunities.

SEATTLE -- How stupid does Seattle closer Heathcliff Slocumb look now for predicting that Randy Myers was headed for a fall?Slocumb's own bullpen is so bad, it can't even keep the games close enough for Myers to attempt a save.Before the Division Series, an American League scout said, "The difference is, Baltimore gets to bat for nine innings and Seattle gets to bat for seven."And after two games, with both Mariners starters failing tocomplete more than five innings, the difference appears more pronounced than ever.

NEW YORK -- Jesse Orosco's big-game experience includes getting the final out of the 1986 World Series and tossing his glove toward the heavens as his New York Mets teammates celebrated.Archie Corbin's most pressure-filled game was a basketball contest with a rival high school.Such is the nature of the Orioles bullpen as the last 11 days of the pennant race unfold.A few relievers, such as Orosco and Randy Myers, have a ton of big-game and postseason experience. Others, such as Corbin, Terry Mathews, Armando Benitez and Alan Mills, will be counted on in the clutch, too. But those relievers must reach back to high school or the minor leagues to recall competing with everything on the line.

BOSTON -- Armando Benitez sat at his locker with his head in his hands, sat there a good five minutes while his teammates gathered around two large tables to eat their post-game meals.Moments before, Benitez had suffered his first true adversity as a major-leaguer, giving up a game-winning, pinch-hit homer to Wes Chamberlain in the bottom of the ninth inning at Fenway Park.This is the test, for Benitez, for any young pitcher. Chamberlain circled the bases pumping his right arm high in the air. The first-place Boston Red Sox emptied their dugout to swarm him at home plate.

Do apple seeds contain a poisonous substance? Will Prozac ruin my sex life? Exactly how much caffeine is in soft drinks and pain relievers? Does melatonin relieve insomnia and prevent cancer?These are just a few of the questions being asked and answered on the information highway. E-mail medicine is changing the way people get answers to their health concerns.It used to be that when someone got sick, he went to the doctor, got a prescription for some pills and swallowed them faithfully. Patients were rarely told what they were taking and had little or no access to information about side effects.

An ancient proverb tells us that a good name is better than great riches. But many of today's over-the-counter drug makers see a good name as the path to wealth.Actifed, Alka Seltzer, Anacin, Bayer, Benadryl, Maalox, Midol and Tylenol are just a few of the familiar brands being applied to a wide range of products.Once upon a time you could walk into a pharmacy and know what you were buying when you purchased a package with a trusted name. Those days are long gone.Millions of Americans grew up identifying Bayer with aspirin.

MINNEAPOLIS -- The Orioles should be kicking small-market butt, but last night they fell to feeble Minnesota after losing their opener to helpless Kansas City.Bud Selig is 2-0.Peter Angelos is 0-2.Help!Two games into the season, and the Orioles soon might need to promote a minor-league pitcher to bolster their 12-man staff. Two games into the season, and the bullpen already is a disaster.Yet, manager Phil Regan hardly seemed concerned after last night's 7-4 loss to the Twins. Regan not only insisted the relievers were throwing well, he predicted they'll show marked improvement soon.

Police arrested a Baltimore man Tuesday on charges of stealing $94 worth of meat and pain relievers from the Metro Food Market in Crofton.Michael Spurrier, an employee of the store in the 1600 block of Crofton Center, told police that shortly before noon he followed a man pushing a cart down an aisle and saw him transfer meat from his cart to the inside of his coat.The man walked outside, and Mr. Spurrier caught him and asked him to return to the store, police said.As he refused and began to struggle with Mr. Spurrier, 12 boxes of over-the-counter pain relievers began to fall from his coat, police said.

CLEVELAND - -In the first two weeks of September, the Orioles promoted six relievers and acquired another, left-hander Sean Henn, in a minor league trade. The hope was that the additions would bolster a tired bullpen and give several pitchers an opportunity to show that they belong at the major league level. What it has done instead is reveal a lack of organizational depth in that area and likely made several necessary offseason roster decisions much easier to make. In the first 21 games this month, the Orioles bullpen has a 6.43 ERA, having allowed 50 earned runs in 70 innings.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -With their roles no longer certain, Orioles relievers held a "bullpen only" meeting in the visiting clubhouse at Tropicana Field before Monday's series opener against the Tampa Bay Rays. They were mum on what was discussed, though Orioles manager Dave Trembley made it clear that the meeting was planned by the relievers, not the coaching staff, who held their own meeting in Trembley's office before the game. "That was an impromptu get-together on their part," Trembley said.

Orioles manager Sam Perlozzo vacates his seat in the dugout and makes another trip to the mound. He'll extend an arm, the bullpen gates will swing open and more gray hairs will sprout on his head. Let others spend millions each year trying to reverse the aging process. For about the same cost, the Orioles have found a way to speed it up. Kerry Ligtenberg in 2003. Mike DeJean in 2004. Steve Reed and Steve Kline in 2005. Jim Brower in 2006. The names go much further back, of course, a veritable roll call of veteran relievers who were supposed to plug holes, not clog the base paths.

The process usually starts somewhere around the fourth inning. Orioles manager Sam Perlozzo will be advised of his starter's mounting pitch count and begin mapping out how he'll use his bullpen the rest of the game. On most nights this season, the answers have been few and the anxiety has been plenty. "If you look to your pitching coach or your bench coach and say, `Who do you like?' and you get no answer - really your stomach is in a knot," Perlozzo said. "You're going to have to try to figure out how to do it. When you get guys that can't do that, you end up with one-inning [stints]

Who's hot Mike Bordick of the Blue Jays has a career-best 17-game hitting streak, raising his average to .282. Who's not Expos relievers have allowed at least one run in 19 of their past 21 games. Line of the day Ramon Hernandez, A's C AB R H RBI HR 5 2 3 5 2 On deck Jamie Moyer of the Mariners and Roger Clemens of the Yankees go today in a matchup of 40-plus All-Stars. He said it "Two innings and I give up one hit and you want to talk about that throw? Come on, man, be serious."

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - The starting rotation is deep, which makes it easier to plant all those troubling signs. The lineup is missing a bona fide cleanup hitter who rattles both opposing pitchers and empty bleacher seats. The infield defense is suspect on the left side. Heavy expectations are being placed on fragile bodies. But how about that bullpen? Pressed to name a team strength as the Orioles completed their 10th day of workouts yesterday, club officials and players are unanimous in their selection of the bullpen.

If the Orioles don't improve their bullpen after last season's debacle, it won't matter if they sign a marquee starter, add speed to the outfield or make any of the other changes being contemplated.If they don't solidify a bullpen that blew 25 saves in 1999, they'll tread water at best during the off-season and probably struggle again next year. Yes, it's that important.Signing Arthur Rhodes would help, but owner Peter G. Angelos is balking at giving him a fourth year of guaranteed salary and the Orioles apparently have fallen behind the Indians, Dodgers and Mariners in the race for Rhodes.

Angels: Anaheim relievers have not allowed a run in 15 innings this season entering last night's game.Rangers: Ivan Rodriguez had four hits for the 14th time in his career on Tuesday. Mike Morgan, who pitched for Seattle from 1985-87, improved to 3-1 against the Mariners, beating them Tuesday for the first time since Aug. 4, 1979.Pub Date: 4/15/99

SEATTLE -- How stupid does Seattle closer Heathcliff Slocumb look now for predicting that Randy Myers was headed for a fall?Slocumb's own bullpen is so bad, it can't even keep the games close enough for Myers to attempt a save.Before the Division Series, an American League scout said, "The difference is, Baltimore gets to bat for nine innings and Seattle gets to bat for seven."And after two games, with both Mariners starters failing tocomplete more than five innings, the difference appears more pronounced than ever.

The Orioles' bullpen did something unusual the other night.It failed.Left-hander Arthur Rhodes gave up three runs in the eighth inning of a loss to the Anaheim Angels on Saturday night, and was as shocked as everybody else. Orioles relievers have grown so accustomed to success that anything less seems, well, a lot less than likely.Rhodes, for example, had not lost a game since May 25, even though he is one of the workhorses in middle relief. The bullpen has 22 victories, a combined 2.67 ERA and 46 saves in 52 opportunities.